Lincoln Riley, Matt Leinart sit together at USC's second-round March Madness game
March Madness brings out alumni, current sports stars and celebrities.
Notable sports figures such as NBA stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and others have been spotted supporting their teams throughout the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.
In the opening round on Saturday, the Bryant family, Basketball Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller and top NFL draft prospect Caleb Williams were among the notable fans to support JuJu Watkins and No. 1 seed USC in its victory over No. 16 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the women’s tournament.
On Monday, USC football coach Lincoln Riley, Heisman-winning quarterback Matt Leinart and former NBA guard John Wall were in attendance at the Trojans’ second-round game against the No. 8 seed Kansas Jayhawks.
Stars are out in Cali 🤩#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/DG21sHVEc4
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 26, 2024
Here’s a look at more celebrity sightings throughout the 2024 NCAA tournaments.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy showed out for the Iowa State Cyclones on Sunday. The Cyclones faced the No. 2 seed Stanford Cardinal in the second round of the women’s basketball tournament.
Purdy spent four seasons at Iowa State, starting 46 straight games in his career. He threw for 12,170 yards and 81 touchdowns plus had 993 completions, all school records. The 49ers drafted Purdy with the final pick in the 2022 NFL draft, making him “Mr. Irrelevant.”
Iowa State lost to Stanford in overtime, 87-81.
Vibes are HIGH with QB1 in the house 🤩
🌪️🏀🌪️ pic.twitter.com/5vn3yhwlVb
— Cyclone Basketball (@CycloneWBB) March 25, 2024
The Bryant family, Cheryl Miller, Caleb Williams
The Trojans have always drawn a crowd — this time it was the Bryant family, Miller and Williams.
The Bryant family — Vanessa, Kobe’s widow, and children Natalia, Bianka and Capri — was out to support Watkins, who wore Kobe’s signature shoes throughout her freshman year.
Miller’s ties to the Trojans is cemented in legend — as she’s helped the Trojans to back-to-back national titles in 1983 and 1984. Watkins broke Miller’s all-time single-season scoring record while Miller was in attendance.
The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner was in attendance as well. Williams, the 2024 NFL draft’s projected No. 1 overall pick, spent two years as the Trojans’ quarterback.
Durant, a 14-time NBA All-Star now playing for the Phoenix Suns, was a one-and-done player for the Texas Longhorns in 2006-07, but his lone season was a decorated one. He became the first freshman to be a consensus national player of the year and averaged 25.8 points and 11.1 rebound per games. Durant was in attendance for 1-seed Texas’ win over 8-seed Alabama in the women’s round of 32.
Nina and Russell Westbrook
LA Clippers guard Russell Westbrook played two seasons at UCLA and helped the Bruins advance to the Final Four in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.
His wife, Nina, also played basketball at UCLA and was an honorable mention for the Pac-10 All-Freshman and All-Defensive teams in 2007-08.
The Westbrooks were there to watch the No. 2 seed Bruins defeat 15-seed California Baptist in the first round of the women’s tournament.
